Thanks BobJean for looking and the kind comment.

Ron

thanks Greg for the thumbs up.

Ron

Day # 18 - Date : Wednesday, November 1, 2017

This is the smaller cousin of the White-breasted Nuthatch I posted earlier in this series. It is in my opinion one of the most difficult birds to capture a good pic of. It is always on the move, very small and likes to stay within the branches on thick trees (mine does anyways, within the spruces). Another problem is that he appears to enjoy his outings at dusk, when the light is pretty well non-existent. The only times I have gotten a fairly good picture on one this fall was when he decided to come out in the open for a taste of suet on my log. In previous shoots when my mobility was a-ok I could move about and make the opportunities to get a better photo, but right now I'm forced to try and wait for him to come to me. Afraid there is way too much "noise" for my liking. But these are the best I could get this fall, not the best but good enough to show what he looks like. Probably would have been better with my 300mm prime to catch this little rascal.

LittleRed (Ron)

Canon T6i, Tamron 150-600mm @500, 1/800, f8, auto ISO @3200, dist 10M


Canon T6i, Tamron 150-600mm @350, 1/1000, f8, auto ISO @1250, dist 6M


Canon T6i, Tamron 150-600mm @500, 1/1000, f7.1, auto ISO @1000, dist 8M


Canon T6i, Tamron 150-600mm @500, 1/1000, f8, auto ISO @1250, dist 6M

Thanks for commenting Jeff, glad you like my feathered friends pics.

Ron

Thanks again sailorsmom for your kind comment.

Ron

Yes merrytexan it is fun watching them hide the food but is frustrating also. I put a pile of peanuts out and within a half-an-hour they are all gone. They don't eat many now but collect them for the winter, but that means that all the rest of the birds don't have a chance to get any either. So the Chickadees, Nuthatches, Cardinals suffer. Wish I could train them to take only a few and leave a few. :-)))))

Ron

No, I don't use one of those regular wire basket suet feeders as the larger birds have some difficulty getting on them. One can jury-rig these baskets by putting a board under the basket. The Woodpeckers use their tail for balance and place it on the board. Without the board they have no place to set their tail. Myself I use a length of log with holes drilled in it and hang it from an overhead wire so no animals can access it. I use my own suet mix of peanut butter, lard, cornmeal, flour and seed which I push into the holes. I sure have no problem getting any Peckerheads as today I had 4 downy, 4 hairy and 2 pileated knock of a pile of my suet.

Ron

Thanks merrytexan for looking in and for the comment on my shots. Tis true it is never dull here on my deck, especially if your sitting on your arse recuperating from leg surgery. No mobility but so far the birds come to me and I don't (can't) have to chase them. But it is starting to get a bit coolish up here so I don't think I'll be doing much more sitting on the deck this year. Been waiting for the northern birds to start to come in but so far only one has shown up and I've not gotten any good pics of it yet, hopefully tomorrow (American Tree Sparrow). If I do will do at least 3 more posts on this series.

Ron

Lucky is an understatement regarding having 2 breeding pairs in the vicinity of my home. I guess the main reason for this fact is that my home backs on large Conservation Area, one created to do flood control in our city. That and as far as I can tell I am the only person whom feeds the birds all year. I have to set up my feeding stations so that they are bear proof (hanging them from overhead wire lines so they cannot be reached). Usually quite a bit of bear sign can be observed in my yard at times but they have only gotten a couple of then over the past few years. This Conversation Area which contains a small lake probably covers a copla hundred acres or so and it would quite easily support the two pairs of Pilleys. If you can hear them, with a little patience and a pile of good suet mix you should be able to entice them into your yard. Thanks for the nice comment, it is appreciated.

Ron

Yes, this is the last of the Woodpeckers, but I do have a few more of my regulars to post. However, tis getting a bit coolish up here to sit on the deck to get some more pics of the last birds I want to post. So, a few more and I will retire.

Ron

Thanks Phil for looking and commenting, tis appreciated. Getting close is the trick for getting very sharp photos. As for the narrative I like to add a bit of info on my birds, but my wife says sometimes I talk too much.

Ron

My pleasure imagemeister, I really enjoy sharing pics of my friends here on this forum. Thanks for the kind comment.

Ron

Tis true, the closer you get, the sharper the pic. Takes patience and a heck-of-a-lot of suet to get it done. Thanks for looking and the comment.

Ron

Day # 17 - Date : Tuesday, October 31, 2017

This is the last of my regular Woodpeckers, the glorius Pileated. The largest and probably my favourite. At the present time I have only 2 that are coming regularly to my feeding stations. But during the early summer it was a real boon year. It appears that it was a very good year for these birds as I had a total of 7 of these beauties gorging themselves on my suet supply. There were two families, one with the parents and 2 fledglings (male and female) and one set of parents with a single female. When both families were in the yard it was a real circus, with scraps going on all over the place. I had to make sure that there were 2 suet feeding stations to try and keep them sort of under control. Most have now moved on leaving only one male and one female. Both these birds appear to be youngsters (this years birds) and not adults. I set up one feeding station right on my deck so that the birds when dining would only be 8 feet away from my location. This made them very approachable so that I could get within 2 or 3 feet of them (no pics as my lens couldn't focus). No attempt was ever made either to touch them or hand feed them, something I think would be careless and wrong. However, if I wasn't quick enough to get the suet in the feeder they would land on the picnic table beside me and eat right out of my container. Feeding 7 of these characters became a bit of an expensive proposition considering a 2Kg bottle of peanut butter costs about $6 and I was going though it in a week. But, it was surely worth it.
One of the many blessings one has as a birder to have the opportunity to interact such as this with one of tHe Lord's most perfect creatures.
Hope you enjoy my pics of this most beautiful bird.

LittleRed (Ron)

Female - Canon T6i, Tamron 150-600mm @420, 1/1250, f7.1, auto ISO @800, dist 11M


Female - Canon T6i, Canon 300mm prime, 1/640, f4.5, auto ISO @250, dist 3M


Female - Canon T6i, Tamron 150-600mm @250, 1/400, f6.3, auto ISO @125, dist 3M


Male - Canon T6i, Canon 300mm prime, 1/1000, f4, auto ISO @800, dist 10M


Male - Canon T6i, Tamron 150-600mm @309, 1/1000, f6.3, auto ISO @2500, dist 8M


Male - Canon T6i, Canon 300mm prime, 1/640, f4, auto ISO @3200, dist 8M

Thanks Hal81 for the kind comment.

Ron